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Transcript: Pleasantville School Board Forum
September 17, 2026
Below is an AI-generated transcript from the Sept. 16 Pleasantville School Board candidate forum hosted by the Marion County Express. Candidates Pam Anthony, Aubrey Burress, Bronson Maeschen and Jessica Mesecher took part.
Please excuse any grammatical, spelling or other errors from the transcript. The AI is imperfect.
Please excuse any grammatical, spelling or other errors from the transcript. The AI is imperfect.
Pam Anthony? I believe firmly in servant leadership and teamwork, and just nurturing fertile soil. And so, hopefully, I can help in in that way.
Bronson Maeschen: I'm Bronson Mason. I've lived here my whole life, and families from here. Older brother, sister graduated from Pleasantville. My parents graduated here, so obviously, you know, very very vested in Pleasantville and care a lot about the community and the school. I got four kids, 14. I always got to get them in order. 1412, nine, and three. So currently, there is one in high school now. I got one in junior high, one in elementary, and one will be going in preschool next year. So I guess I think that's a unique perspective. I was very involved in everything at Pleasantville, as far as I played a lot of sports, FFA, did horticulture, tried band until mr. Turnbull kicked me out. I'm joking; he didn't. Things get busier through school. A lot of different aspects. Very good band program, by the way, you ran. Anyway, so yeah, I grew up on a hog farm, so we any excuse we had, we were involved in an activity to get the heck out of there. That's still where I work to this day. Most my parents still farm. No longer have those livestock, or I probably would have left. So anyway, yeah, corn and soybeans. Now I, I think I pretty much know everybody. I was gonna say if anybody recognized my name, didn't really know. I raced sprint cars for 13 years. That probably also helped me learn how to like stretch a budget because I never like that's unaffordable and we had to stretch every penny, which in all seriousness I think was a good experience for me and other parts of life and in business. My wife Sierra graduated from Pleasantville also. Like I said, we have the four kids. I want to serve to contribute to our school and community to make it the best it can be. I realize the more I think about it, and through my kids, how important all them years really were. The way they shape us. I mean, I watch my kids in different classes, and even that group of kids that's around them. You see how much it affects their whole life. I mean, good and bad, but it is what it is, you know. So, anyway, I just obviously, like I said, I got a strong passion for Pleasantville, and I mean, I think we all probably do, and I want to bring that to doing this job.
Jessica Mesecher: I'm Jessica Mesker. Most of you don't know me as well. Graduated from Pleasantville. Been in town for 25 years, I think. My husband is also a Pleasantville alumni. We have three daughters, 11, 9, and 4, which is why they are not here because they could not sit through this, my husband and I were both very deeply committed to this community, serving on a lot of boards, the Athletic Booster Club, the Alumni Committee for several years. I serve on the pitch tournament as well. For a professional background and a unique perspective, is I work as a project manager for a company I've been at for almost 14 years now, and with that project management experience and my deep passion for Pleasantville, I think I I bring a unique perspective on how to manage budgets, prioritize, and so I I just want the success of Pleasantville, like Bronson, with multiple kids in school. The success of this community is the success of our kids, and I'm deeply passionate about that.
Aubrey Burress
Hi, my name is Aubrey Burris, and I am married to an 82 alum, and my daughter is a 2020 grad from Pleasantville. I am a graduate from Knoxville, graduated from Simpson College, and my degree was in criminal justice political science. And I had a professor tell me the best thing you can do when you have the time and effort is to give back to your community, and so that is where I'm at now in my life. I do not have children currently in the community. I do not have family members that work at the school. I'm not related to anybody that works at the school, I'm not related to anybody that's currently on the board. So I feel that I take that emotional connection out of those decisions within the Pleasantville School Board. I currently, I guess in July, I just celebrated my 29th year with the state of Iowa. I started with the Department of Corrections, worked there for eight years, then I went to the Iowa State Patrol, worked on the governor's, the governor and the capital security for three years as their administrative assistant, and then in 2008 I went to Health and Human Services, and I currently work for a unit of 10, and we recover benefits from people that fraud food stamps, Medicare, and TANF, which is considered fit. So, working for the state, you do a lot with budgets. I'm also a township trustee for Pleasantville Township. I'm on the 28e committee where I work with the fire department to work their budget. I am also the treasurer for the Pleasantville FFA alumni. Have been for about eight years. I am also was appointed on the EMS Essential Committee by the Marion County Board of Supervisors because I do believe that again with that service to the community, EMS is not deemed an essential service, and that's obviously something very important to Pleasantville and aging communities. So I am very active in our community. The reason why I want to be on the board is I want to give back not only to our educators, but to our parents, to our children. I want to be that support. I also want there to be transparency, accountability, and as a board member, you are that overseer of taxpayer dollars. And there's there's tough decisions that need to be made. The state budget's awful, and there's a lot of things going on within the state. We don't know who the governor is going to be. There's gas prices. There's a lot of unknowns right now, and the school board, just like with the state, there's going to be a lot of difficult decisions. And I think when you remove yourself from that emotional connection with the school district, such as having children in the district, having a spouse in the district, having a parent that works there, I think that you take division from the school district educators out of that, and so that's why I'm running. Okay.
Unknown 8:06
I had a couple of questions submitted. First of all, can everybody hear everybody? Okay. You know what? Because there's no microphones, if it's not too much trouble if the candidates can just move their table, you just have to reach out. All right, and I'll do my best not to fall off. Okay, okay, I got a couple of questions that were submitted by folks before before this to ask the candidates tonight. And first one, and I think we'll start with with Mason or excuse me, Bronson Mason. What are the top three agenda items you would like to see the Pleasantville School board accomplish during your one year term.
Bronson
Okay, so looking at haven't listened to every stacking of every school board meeting, but I've most certainly, like all of us, I'm sure have paid a lot more attention recently, the past few years even, and just looking at the agendas, former agendas. Obviously, one year is a pretty short amount of time. In all fairness, but things I'm seeing that certainly look the most important to me is it does look like recently, you know, there was a safety and emergency plan was part of the meeting, and it went into closed session, so I understand probably why it did its stuff, but I don't think anything's obviously more important than safety of our teachers, kids, anybody involved in that, and so certainly moving forward, that's I mean as important as anything, and unfortunately that is a major concern in the in the world we live in Right now, obviously, budget is you know the biggest part of probably any of this, and I mean obviously simple answer, but efficient as possible. I mean, like I said, I mean farming, the things I've been involved in, that's where I think that my experience would come in to be helpful, just you know, to be as conservative as possible, but you know, also that you know, things got to get done. So, and then it's been very a lot of things going on recently. I've been on the school improvements. I've seen they keep coming up. Gym floor bleachers, kitchen commons area keeps coming up. I know a lot of it plans are being made. A lot of choices are going to have to be made on that, and it's definitely interesting. It's going to be definitely high dollar items. I don't know if they're considering tax levies coming into that, or if there's going to be enough budget to do any of it, but those are definitely things you have already started, and it looks like that will be very important in the coming year. And just to kind of add something that's not really agenda, but maybe just a little more general, you know, I as far as us we care about the community, the school, and and I just there is a few things with that I think everybody wants to be better, and I ask a lot of people the questions, and I don't really know why they're like whose job it is, for example. I don't want to put anybody down, but like whether it's making the school look good or if the lawns mowed before we have like a big meeting before the year starts and just even sometimes when we send out things, I notice there's a lot of spelling errors and stuff on things that get sent out for like our kids and stuff and I don't know maybe it's no big deal. It gets the point across, but like those details and things, I guess they really bother me. I think like I don't think anybody disagree that like if we could find answers to some of them things, we would all you know take pride in just you know cleaning things like that. So anyway, aquadar pen.
Pam
All right. So I have been in person in the school board meetings for probably over the last two years, and so I have learned a lot, and I think I could step into the role fluidly, efficiently, and kind of just my background a little bit as far as like what would my you know my day job bring to this is I'm in diagnostics so medical imaging and we look for challenges problems and then how do you fix them and so therefore I would say that I'm a professional observer, like and and really be able to try to see things for more just than surface level, but kind of deep down. So some of the different conversations over the last few years, and we've had the DLR group come in, and without getting down into the nitty gritty of it all, but you know they make recommendations of improvements that we can do. Some of those improvements are you know grandiose or really awesome. They might be you know five-year, 10-year, so on. But they're also improvements that we could make you know within our budget. And so I know we talk in the meetings, a lot about the different buckets that things fit within, and you know, within that, then there's also immediate need. So things that were talked about, you know, kitchen, like Bronson said, gym, you know, that the gym is over 50 years old, and it's kind of reaching that end of life. So what do we do with that? You know, so if you do like a one-to-one replacement, like DLR was talking about in the last meeting, you know, what does that look like? And so those were really good conversations. I think very useful. There's things that you know you hear when you kind of sit in on the meetings that you don't think about, or maybe it causes you to to think about it a little bit more. Other things like there's some the PSA money that was gifted for softball, and and you know with the potential of now, can we do some hybrid spaces because we don't have space for our female wrestlers, and we haven't. They come here to wrestle. They have to leave campus in winter, and you know so we have to create hopefully spaces for all of our athletes just to stay on campus, you know. So those those conversations, like the short-term improvement projects or the things that we can do without bonds, I think if you're able to, you know, year by year do improvements within you know the buckets allowed, then that also, you know, that's showing that we're good stewards of, you know, the community's money, the schools' money, and then down the road, those big dollar things. So those are bond issues. You know, then the community will back that bond issues have to pass by a super majority. So that's over 60% And I just because I was curious, I looked up just last year in the state of Iowa, and there were a lot of there were 43 board referendums and only 18 passed, but 15 of those still had a majority. They had support, and I looked at schools that were our size and things. Just over and over and over, they talk about modern, just getting modern safety was over and over and over. So infrastructure improvements, you know, basic things like roof and HVAC, and some of these projects like Gladbrook Rhinebeck, it took them for four years. It took three tries before they could get the bond passed, and so these are things where you know short term yes we have immediate need but also can we how are we growing how are we looking forward two moves ahead you know I think you always have to be two moves ahead and yeah so it just has been you know eye opening for me like how can we take our really awesome community and just and keep it strong, and keep growth.
Bronson
We, you know, like we're down 34 students at $8,100 per kid. That's over a quarter of a million dollars. So, you know, how do we get kids coming back and and coming into our community? So, these are again, these are some of big picture ideas, but short term, and then the first year, I think some of those immediate need things are things that we can get done. So just get some get some stuff done with what we've got. Okay,
Aubrey
So I read this question, and I didn't know if you meant agenda items as the agenda moving forward as the school board as a whole, or specific agenda items. So I will go with I have lists on
Unknown 17:08
both.
Aubrey
So agenda items moving forward as the board as to what I feel the school board their agenda needs to be is I feel that they need to have strong support for their staff, responsible finances. I think student achievement and academic growth, and I think they need to focus on literacy for their students, and then student well-being, attendance, safety. That would include mental health support, safe learning environment, and then if we are talking about specific agenda items, I think educators spend a lot of time on administrative duties, and I think they need to spend more time on instruction. I don't know if, like with my job, we do time studies. I don't know if that's something that they do with educators with a time study, where somebody watches what you do and recommends, hey, this needs to be cut. Our educators are spending a lot of time outside of their day doing things probably repetitive. A report here that could also be used here that needs to be documented here attendance documented here, IEP reports documented here and then sent here. I just feel that our educators need to be spending more time on instruction and less time documenting things that document second chronic absenteeism obviously with state budgets programs are cut but chronic absenteeism maybe are there intervention programs that can help with these students maybe family outreach programs that can help with these students to maybe find out what's going on for these kids. Second, or my last is, I as the state employee, I have an evaluation every year. I have a one-on-one with my supervisor every month. We have a team meeting every month. I believe teachers, educators have a evaluation every three years. For the first four years, it's every year. I think as a board to promote. When I think when you're going into budget cuts and when you're going into negotiations, and as a staff, I think that they should look at yearly evaluations for all staff. I think as you, as an employee who are wanting to maybe promote up, you're wanting to look at raises. You're wanting to maybe look at a different job. Your what you take to that is your evaluation. Look, I did ABC at my other job. I have a great evaluation, or on the flip side, as your employer, hey, your evaluation, you're not, you're not doing what you need to be doing, and it's a paper trail. Hey, you're not being successful, and the accountability on that employee. So those are the three things that I had for them.
Unknown 20:22
Okay, Jessica.
Jessica
Yeah. So my three priorities. The first one is our students. So continuing to improve our student achievement, looking at programs that are existing and what we can improve on. I know we have dual credit. I know that we have college credits, which are great for looking at students and their career paths moving forward, and so just looking at what Pleasantville has to offer for our students, and whether college is the right path-a technical school, whether it's a career right away or even military service-are we, as a community, as a school, setting them up for that success right away, so that's the top priority. My second one is with teachers' recruitment and retention. I know you picked on mr. Turnage already, so I'm going to pick on a little bit more. mr. Turnage was a great band teacher for decades. I had him. I loved him. I look at our current band program, and we've had three directors in the last three or four years. I feel like we should be bolstering that. Like I understand, I come from a sports background, but the fine arts mean something too. And so, how do we keep those great teachers in our community for longer? How can we do that? What does the school need to provide for them? I'm very passionate about that. I do have family that work there. I also have a husband who's coaching, so that is something that is important to me. Is our teacher retention and recruitment, and a priority that has come up in multiple meetings as well. Currently, is long-term facilities. I know the board has discussed in length with the DLR group. You know our kitchen. How do we get wrestling for our women? And the gym floor update. Those are all things that are heavily discussed in almost every meeting recently. And then looking long-term, you know, looking at our fine arts, what can we provide to them? Safety is a huge concern. ATA is a huge concern. So these are all priorities for me, and how we can implement those.
Unknown 22:33
Okay, and we'll stick with you, Jessica. You kind of touched on the whole band thing. So, what are your plans to support the fine arts? You know, not just band, but like choir, speech, theater, etc.
Jessica
Yeah, to my knowledge, I mean, it's been a few decades since I've been out of school, but those facilities haven't been upgraded much since I've left. I know that some of the money, like we have a fine arts booster club now, which is great, but there are things that we have to start planning for long term for them-an actual facility with lights and microphones that work on a consistent basis. I think a big concern that was brought up in a recent meeting is ADA accessibility into our event center when we're looking at hosting even just elementary programs in there, and not having the capability to get parents and grandparents in there to see their their kids, like that's that's a problem, and that goes for any of these, whether it's band, choir, any of our theater groups or musicals. So that is of importance to me. So how can we, how can we mitigate the the ADA issues short term, and then long term, what is our planning to grow those facilities and give our kids in those fine arts programs what they they really need to perform and be successful? I think that's a larger conversation that deserves some more thought put into it, but what can we do? I do believe truly that fine arts have the same level of support and consideration as our academics, academics and athletics. You know, some of some of my core memories come from band trips I went on in high school. So it's just as important as anything else in the school.
Unknown 24:24
Bronson.
Bronson
Yeah. So as far as facilities, it's like absolutely we. I mean, need to do what we can to provide them a safe environment. If that means we do have to get some upgrades for the ADA and stuff. Then, by all means, I obviously it's very important. I mean, what I want to help off the fine arts as much as possible. I mean, if that means actual funding, then we need to help them with fundraisers. I know there is boosters, anything that way. I mean, I'm more than than willing to try to help them with, you know, I will make it simple. I do think it's very important to keep kids engaged. I think all humans are different, so I do think sometimes there's a feeling that that's left out to people because everybody likes football or something in America, and it's like I think football is pretty important too. I think fine arts is important. I think band's important. I think it's whatever keeps that kid engaged in school because not everybody's like me, and not everybody's like them. And I think all those, obviously, their education in the classroom is by far the most important. But by all means, yes, we need to give the keep them involved. And from what I know, it sounds like we have had a very good fine arts program as far as the on the plays and stuff are pretty neat deal and I've got extended family members that are very involved in that and so absolutely but I do want to stress that I don't I don't I guess maybe I just don't like that we're like it is being picked out because no, I want to. That's it's fine. Let's put it on an even playing field, but let's not. We don't have to exclude somebody else because of it. Like, it doesn't have to be a competition. Like, all of it.
Unknown 26:12
Okay, Pam.
Pam
Oh, I. We have such a good fine arts program here, and just plays that they put on at the concerts, and you know our family's been blessed to be able to you know music and different you know vocal, and I concur just with so short term. What are some short term things we can do in long term? And and I talked to some of my friends who are on the the fine arts boosters, and you know immediately you know sound and lighting that's one of those technology things that just changes and changes, and so just to even you know we want to we want to keep up but keep moving it forward. The ADA compliance, yeah, being able to have access to get family members in to watch them perform, I was looking again. It's like you know, so you have challenges, and then what's what's I always say. If you have a concern or a challenge, what is the answer? You know, or at least what's the start of the conversation to answer that? And I was looking at some grants, and there's some STEM grants, but so you know, science, technology, engineering, and math. But they've added now STEAM, which arts, in that conversation too. In the state of Iowa, there's a $50,000 grant that they'll they'll match two to one local to go towards something, you know the something within the arts, or again the STEM STEM program. You know we have our industrial tech area and our art room, and things like how could we get some people together and have conversations? Like how can we innovate to maybe make some of these flex spaces? You know, kids who use them on the daily, the teachers who who use them. You know, get the you know. So with the engineering and mathematics, start you know measuring things. These would be things that we could do with again without those big bond issues. You know, what can we do today or tomorrow, and and involving the kids and getting them thinking, community minded, and and how can we make things better for ourselves here locally? So, yeah, I there are definitely things that we could just do right now, and and again that sound and lighting and make it accessible, but also just kind of be a little bit and you know let our kids be dreamers and and get them thinking about hey how can we make our spaces really awesome? And this is stuff that we can do. And so, grant writing-you know-start start thinking about how you can make your everyday space awesome, and yeah, get kids to get to work being dreamers.
Unknown 28:59
Okay, Aubrey.
Aubrey
Thank you. I think everybody agrees that fine art education benefits children with their social relationship, team building skills, self confidence, and it allows students to self express themselves. I think at minimum, the school board needs to ensure baseline funding is provided for fine arts materials. I think that is the absolute minimum that the school board should do. My daughter was in band choir through her four years of high school. I think as a school board member, I think showing up to activities, you said writing grants. I think advocating for the equal pay for those educators in the fine arts, making sure that fine arts education instruction is fought for just as much as the other education programs. When I was at Simpson, we had to take in our base classes. I had to take a theater class. Was one of my favorite classes that I had to take. I don't think it would hurt every Pleasantville student to have to take choir or theater or something along that line, because I really think it opens your eyes and Makes you appreciate, you know, and talking about in a high school role.
Unknown 30:54
So okay, and we'll stick with Aubrey. Budget discussions for the next fiscal year are going to be starting soon. Are there any areas in the budget that you feel could or should take reductions if necessary, and what would be those expenses you would protect?
Aubrey
Oh, I think budget discussions are so scary right now. I think you would have to look at your open positions right now and see if that is something that would need to be cut. And I'm gonna I'm gonna give an example. Miss Cooks here, she's going to be done as the FFA, the co-advisor. You know, is that a position that you would fill with the with the decline in student enrollment, you know, would that position need to be filled? I think everything needs to try and be protected. I just think with the unknowns right now, with what the state budget, I think that that's something that people forget is you have so many different sections of a school budget. You have the food, and then you have the transportation, and then you have the grounds, and then you have the instruction budget. That one budget may be flourishing, where another budget may not be flourishing. So it looks like the school's spending a lot of money here, but they don't have a lot of money here, and so with gas prices and everything going up, I think I think salaries need to be protected. I think I just think the budget right now is a lot of unknown right now, you have the governor's race that could change a lot of things. Like I said, with being a state employee, that's we have a lot of unknown right now. Our budget's bad, so
Unknown 32:56
Jessica, what are your thoughts on that?
Jessica
Yeah, you know I think the when we talk about reduction, I think what you what I've learned at work is what what needs to be protected. What do we need to save? So really taking an area, taking a look at the areas that directly impact students, and make sure those are priority to keep. You know that's quality teachers, that's salaries, that's classroom instruction. Those are the things that we want to ensure aren't harmed by this. To Aubrey's point, there are buckets of money, and and which one is the one that's taking the biggest hit? And so, when you're looking at what needs to be reduced, you know, taking a close exam of our processes, our vendor contracts, technology utilization, what can we do? Aubrey brings up gas prices. Do we need to potentially look at four-day school weeks? Am I recommending that? Not necessarily, but these are all conversations that come up when you're looking at what can we. When we're looking at the buckets of money that are being reduced, these are the conversations that come up, and so really, it's understanding the budget, it's understanding those buckets of money, and really, what I would protect is our our students and making sure that our students and staff are not affected by that as much as we
Unknown 34:27
can. Okay, Pam.
Pam
Yeah, so you know we graduated. I don't know what the exact numbers are. We graduated more than came in, and so with that, the challenge I think lies in we need to bring more students in than are going out, and you know one of the conversations specifically could be you know on the front end the littles you know do in preschool how do we bring you know bring students into the community as far as reductions are concerned you know. It's again, it's kind of a year to year, and as I'm looking at some of the the finance things, you know, it's based off of October 1st to January 15th enrollment headcounts. There's budget guarantees. There's spending authority. So there's a lot of things that go into, and this also is-I think I've learned the tip of the iceberg attending these meetings. There are so many things that go in from the day to day to day. So what I do know is every other school in the state that is our size and bigger is up against the same thing. And I think back to the you know creating the fertile soil. So bolstering what we can bolster, making really savvy decisions, and then sometimes it's just grassroots stuff. You know, you have people. You know, you go to that content expert, the you know a guy who an electrician, for example, like Michael. You know, pick his brain a little bit, just getting you know conversations going like what is something really creative that we can do to not only sustain but thrive you know in this setting because the setting is what it is and I don't know I'm not a retreater so I think we're we're and I'm and I'm and I'm an optimist also so I think we're going to be okay. We've got cooler heads prevail. Big fan of contagious calm. Just make really good decisions, you know. And if it's a decision one month at a time to keep us moving forward, then hey, I'm I'm game for that. But I don't know. It I don't think it's dire. Yes, we are. There are legislative changes. There are budget, state budget things, but also, you know, I think also small towns tend to kind of thrive in in some of these cuts. You know, like Iowa City, boy, they're having a really hard time right now, and those larger schools kind of feel that stuff. So they're having to make those cuts in staff, and I, you know, I think we just we do our darndest to protect every single teacher and associate and support staff. Yeah. So again, more of an optimist. I don't know if I answer the question, but that's where my mind goes. Is you know, kind of take it. How do you eat an elephant one bite at a time. So, Bronson.
Bronson
Yeah. So I mean, once again, obviously, you know, thinking start at the classroom. So definitely want to protect the teachers' pay for sure. I mean, that's we got to have the best teachers we can get. No question about it. We got to keep the best teachers when we have them. There is a balance, I think, as far as you know. What back to like having school pride in the grounds and stuff, and what you see does matter. We like we do somewhat compete for students. That is what brings money into the school, and some of them shiny things maybe are what draws people in when they're looking at a place to live. So we certainly can't claim that that stuff doesn't matter, and and that's where I'm even saying not to veer off the budget too far. But you know, some of the simpler things that don't cost as much money, I'd like to see get a little more organized. Like I say, like get that grass cut, keep things looking nice, stuff that really isn't you know that big a deal, but just but anyway, to get back to the budget, I have seen. I remember even being at a meeting and hearing that just by sharing our bus maintenance with Knoxville, or more so, they're basically in charge of it. I believe mr. Burkhardt, I kind of know him even, and it was a really big number. I know that that was saving us by just actually being with them, and I've read other things that maybe looking into more of those co-ops. We've obviously done it with certain teachers and programs too, with different schools and stuff, and I think maybe things like that are going to be a necessity moving forward to keep exploring options like that. I mean, it's just like back to a farmer or something. It's like, hey, if you can get if we if a neighbor and you can buy one piece of equipment that's $200,000 instead of both of you, then by all means that's great. But if you both have to have it all the same days, then it's not going to work. So just exploring maybe those types of things, but anyway, that's it. Okay.
Unknown 39:28
And so it's good to see four people running for one open school board seat because that's more competitive than I've seen some regular school board elections in the past. But at this point, how likely are each one of you to to run in the regular school board election next year, we'll start with we'll go back to Pam.
Pam
Yeah, I so you know it's just I am I'm kind of like the the one month at a time in terms of like if I were to be elected, you know I want to do a really really good job. I want to learn and absorb everything that I possibly can, and and it's it's just one of those things. If I feel like I can support our community, do a great job, you know, be a good listener, you know, those are things where yeah, of course, I I would be you know willing to to run again, I at this you know I I'm kind of being short-sighted on purpose, but it's definitely in the realm of possibilities. But yeah, I just you know next next one next guy in, and you know just want to do a good job short term and see what happens.
Unknown 40:42
Bree,
Bronson Maeschen: I'm Bronson Mason. I've lived here my whole life, and families from here. Older brother, sister graduated from Pleasantville. My parents graduated here, so obviously, you know, very very vested in Pleasantville and care a lot about the community and the school. I got four kids, 14. I always got to get them in order. 1412, nine, and three. So currently, there is one in high school now. I got one in junior high, one in elementary, and one will be going in preschool next year. So I guess I think that's a unique perspective. I was very involved in everything at Pleasantville, as far as I played a lot of sports, FFA, did horticulture, tried band until mr. Turnbull kicked me out. I'm joking; he didn't. Things get busier through school. A lot of different aspects. Very good band program, by the way, you ran. Anyway, so yeah, I grew up on a hog farm, so we any excuse we had, we were involved in an activity to get the heck out of there. That's still where I work to this day. Most my parents still farm. No longer have those livestock, or I probably would have left. So anyway, yeah, corn and soybeans. Now I, I think I pretty much know everybody. I was gonna say if anybody recognized my name, didn't really know. I raced sprint cars for 13 years. That probably also helped me learn how to like stretch a budget because I never like that's unaffordable and we had to stretch every penny, which in all seriousness I think was a good experience for me and other parts of life and in business. My wife Sierra graduated from Pleasantville also. Like I said, we have the four kids. I want to serve to contribute to our school and community to make it the best it can be. I realize the more I think about it, and through my kids, how important all them years really were. The way they shape us. I mean, I watch my kids in different classes, and even that group of kids that's around them. You see how much it affects their whole life. I mean, good and bad, but it is what it is, you know. So, anyway, I just obviously, like I said, I got a strong passion for Pleasantville, and I mean, I think we all probably do, and I want to bring that to doing this job.
Jessica Mesecher: I'm Jessica Mesker. Most of you don't know me as well. Graduated from Pleasantville. Been in town for 25 years, I think. My husband is also a Pleasantville alumni. We have three daughters, 11, 9, and 4, which is why they are not here because they could not sit through this, my husband and I were both very deeply committed to this community, serving on a lot of boards, the Athletic Booster Club, the Alumni Committee for several years. I serve on the pitch tournament as well. For a professional background and a unique perspective, is I work as a project manager for a company I've been at for almost 14 years now, and with that project management experience and my deep passion for Pleasantville, I think I I bring a unique perspective on how to manage budgets, prioritize, and so I I just want the success of Pleasantville, like Bronson, with multiple kids in school. The success of this community is the success of our kids, and I'm deeply passionate about that.
Aubrey Burress
Hi, my name is Aubrey Burris, and I am married to an 82 alum, and my daughter is a 2020 grad from Pleasantville. I am a graduate from Knoxville, graduated from Simpson College, and my degree was in criminal justice political science. And I had a professor tell me the best thing you can do when you have the time and effort is to give back to your community, and so that is where I'm at now in my life. I do not have children currently in the community. I do not have family members that work at the school. I'm not related to anybody that works at the school, I'm not related to anybody that's currently on the board. So I feel that I take that emotional connection out of those decisions within the Pleasantville School Board. I currently, I guess in July, I just celebrated my 29th year with the state of Iowa. I started with the Department of Corrections, worked there for eight years, then I went to the Iowa State Patrol, worked on the governor's, the governor and the capital security for three years as their administrative assistant, and then in 2008 I went to Health and Human Services, and I currently work for a unit of 10, and we recover benefits from people that fraud food stamps, Medicare, and TANF, which is considered fit. So, working for the state, you do a lot with budgets. I'm also a township trustee for Pleasantville Township. I'm on the 28e committee where I work with the fire department to work their budget. I am also the treasurer for the Pleasantville FFA alumni. Have been for about eight years. I am also was appointed on the EMS Essential Committee by the Marion County Board of Supervisors because I do believe that again with that service to the community, EMS is not deemed an essential service, and that's obviously something very important to Pleasantville and aging communities. So I am very active in our community. The reason why I want to be on the board is I want to give back not only to our educators, but to our parents, to our children. I want to be that support. I also want there to be transparency, accountability, and as a board member, you are that overseer of taxpayer dollars. And there's there's tough decisions that need to be made. The state budget's awful, and there's a lot of things going on within the state. We don't know who the governor is going to be. There's gas prices. There's a lot of unknowns right now, and the school board, just like with the state, there's going to be a lot of difficult decisions. And I think when you remove yourself from that emotional connection with the school district, such as having children in the district, having a spouse in the district, having a parent that works there, I think that you take division from the school district educators out of that, and so that's why I'm running. Okay.
Unknown 8:06
I had a couple of questions submitted. First of all, can everybody hear everybody? Okay. You know what? Because there's no microphones, if it's not too much trouble if the candidates can just move their table, you just have to reach out. All right, and I'll do my best not to fall off. Okay, okay, I got a couple of questions that were submitted by folks before before this to ask the candidates tonight. And first one, and I think we'll start with with Mason or excuse me, Bronson Mason. What are the top three agenda items you would like to see the Pleasantville School board accomplish during your one year term.
Bronson
Okay, so looking at haven't listened to every stacking of every school board meeting, but I've most certainly, like all of us, I'm sure have paid a lot more attention recently, the past few years even, and just looking at the agendas, former agendas. Obviously, one year is a pretty short amount of time. In all fairness, but things I'm seeing that certainly look the most important to me is it does look like recently, you know, there was a safety and emergency plan was part of the meeting, and it went into closed session, so I understand probably why it did its stuff, but I don't think anything's obviously more important than safety of our teachers, kids, anybody involved in that, and so certainly moving forward, that's I mean as important as anything, and unfortunately that is a major concern in the in the world we live in Right now, obviously, budget is you know the biggest part of probably any of this, and I mean obviously simple answer, but efficient as possible. I mean, like I said, I mean farming, the things I've been involved in, that's where I think that my experience would come in to be helpful, just you know, to be as conservative as possible, but you know, also that you know, things got to get done. So, and then it's been very a lot of things going on recently. I've been on the school improvements. I've seen they keep coming up. Gym floor bleachers, kitchen commons area keeps coming up. I know a lot of it plans are being made. A lot of choices are going to have to be made on that, and it's definitely interesting. It's going to be definitely high dollar items. I don't know if they're considering tax levies coming into that, or if there's going to be enough budget to do any of it, but those are definitely things you have already started, and it looks like that will be very important in the coming year. And just to kind of add something that's not really agenda, but maybe just a little more general, you know, I as far as us we care about the community, the school, and and I just there is a few things with that I think everybody wants to be better, and I ask a lot of people the questions, and I don't really know why they're like whose job it is, for example. I don't want to put anybody down, but like whether it's making the school look good or if the lawns mowed before we have like a big meeting before the year starts and just even sometimes when we send out things, I notice there's a lot of spelling errors and stuff on things that get sent out for like our kids and stuff and I don't know maybe it's no big deal. It gets the point across, but like those details and things, I guess they really bother me. I think like I don't think anybody disagree that like if we could find answers to some of them things, we would all you know take pride in just you know cleaning things like that. So anyway, aquadar pen.
Pam
All right. So I have been in person in the school board meetings for probably over the last two years, and so I have learned a lot, and I think I could step into the role fluidly, efficiently, and kind of just my background a little bit as far as like what would my you know my day job bring to this is I'm in diagnostics so medical imaging and we look for challenges problems and then how do you fix them and so therefore I would say that I'm a professional observer, like and and really be able to try to see things for more just than surface level, but kind of deep down. So some of the different conversations over the last few years, and we've had the DLR group come in, and without getting down into the nitty gritty of it all, but you know they make recommendations of improvements that we can do. Some of those improvements are you know grandiose or really awesome. They might be you know five-year, 10-year, so on. But they're also improvements that we could make you know within our budget. And so I know we talk in the meetings, a lot about the different buckets that things fit within, and you know, within that, then there's also immediate need. So things that were talked about, you know, kitchen, like Bronson said, gym, you know, that the gym is over 50 years old, and it's kind of reaching that end of life. So what do we do with that? You know, so if you do like a one-to-one replacement, like DLR was talking about in the last meeting, you know, what does that look like? And so those were really good conversations. I think very useful. There's things that you know you hear when you kind of sit in on the meetings that you don't think about, or maybe it causes you to to think about it a little bit more. Other things like there's some the PSA money that was gifted for softball, and and you know with the potential of now, can we do some hybrid spaces because we don't have space for our female wrestlers, and we haven't. They come here to wrestle. They have to leave campus in winter, and you know so we have to create hopefully spaces for all of our athletes just to stay on campus, you know. So those those conversations, like the short-term improvement projects or the things that we can do without bonds, I think if you're able to, you know, year by year do improvements within you know the buckets allowed, then that also, you know, that's showing that we're good stewards of, you know, the community's money, the schools' money, and then down the road, those big dollar things. So those are bond issues. You know, then the community will back that bond issues have to pass by a super majority. So that's over 60% And I just because I was curious, I looked up just last year in the state of Iowa, and there were a lot of there were 43 board referendums and only 18 passed, but 15 of those still had a majority. They had support, and I looked at schools that were our size and things. Just over and over and over, they talk about modern, just getting modern safety was over and over and over. So infrastructure improvements, you know, basic things like roof and HVAC, and some of these projects like Gladbrook Rhinebeck, it took them for four years. It took three tries before they could get the bond passed, and so these are things where you know short term yes we have immediate need but also can we how are we growing how are we looking forward two moves ahead you know I think you always have to be two moves ahead and yeah so it just has been you know eye opening for me like how can we take our really awesome community and just and keep it strong, and keep growth.
Bronson
We, you know, like we're down 34 students at $8,100 per kid. That's over a quarter of a million dollars. So, you know, how do we get kids coming back and and coming into our community? So, these are again, these are some of big picture ideas, but short term, and then the first year, I think some of those immediate need things are things that we can get done. So just get some get some stuff done with what we've got. Okay,
Aubrey
So I read this question, and I didn't know if you meant agenda items as the agenda moving forward as the school board as a whole, or specific agenda items. So I will go with I have lists on
Unknown 17:08
both.
Aubrey
So agenda items moving forward as the board as to what I feel the school board their agenda needs to be is I feel that they need to have strong support for their staff, responsible finances. I think student achievement and academic growth, and I think they need to focus on literacy for their students, and then student well-being, attendance, safety. That would include mental health support, safe learning environment, and then if we are talking about specific agenda items, I think educators spend a lot of time on administrative duties, and I think they need to spend more time on instruction. I don't know if, like with my job, we do time studies. I don't know if that's something that they do with educators with a time study, where somebody watches what you do and recommends, hey, this needs to be cut. Our educators are spending a lot of time outside of their day doing things probably repetitive. A report here that could also be used here that needs to be documented here attendance documented here, IEP reports documented here and then sent here. I just feel that our educators need to be spending more time on instruction and less time documenting things that document second chronic absenteeism obviously with state budgets programs are cut but chronic absenteeism maybe are there intervention programs that can help with these students maybe family outreach programs that can help with these students to maybe find out what's going on for these kids. Second, or my last is, I as the state employee, I have an evaluation every year. I have a one-on-one with my supervisor every month. We have a team meeting every month. I believe teachers, educators have a evaluation every three years. For the first four years, it's every year. I think as a board to promote. When I think when you're going into budget cuts and when you're going into negotiations, and as a staff, I think that they should look at yearly evaluations for all staff. I think as you, as an employee who are wanting to maybe promote up, you're wanting to look at raises. You're wanting to maybe look at a different job. Your what you take to that is your evaluation. Look, I did ABC at my other job. I have a great evaluation, or on the flip side, as your employer, hey, your evaluation, you're not, you're not doing what you need to be doing, and it's a paper trail. Hey, you're not being successful, and the accountability on that employee. So those are the three things that I had for them.
Unknown 20:22
Okay, Jessica.
Jessica
Yeah. So my three priorities. The first one is our students. So continuing to improve our student achievement, looking at programs that are existing and what we can improve on. I know we have dual credit. I know that we have college credits, which are great for looking at students and their career paths moving forward, and so just looking at what Pleasantville has to offer for our students, and whether college is the right path-a technical school, whether it's a career right away or even military service-are we, as a community, as a school, setting them up for that success right away, so that's the top priority. My second one is with teachers' recruitment and retention. I know you picked on mr. Turnage already, so I'm going to pick on a little bit more. mr. Turnage was a great band teacher for decades. I had him. I loved him. I look at our current band program, and we've had three directors in the last three or four years. I feel like we should be bolstering that. Like I understand, I come from a sports background, but the fine arts mean something too. And so, how do we keep those great teachers in our community for longer? How can we do that? What does the school need to provide for them? I'm very passionate about that. I do have family that work there. I also have a husband who's coaching, so that is something that is important to me. Is our teacher retention and recruitment, and a priority that has come up in multiple meetings as well. Currently, is long-term facilities. I know the board has discussed in length with the DLR group. You know our kitchen. How do we get wrestling for our women? And the gym floor update. Those are all things that are heavily discussed in almost every meeting recently. And then looking long-term, you know, looking at our fine arts, what can we provide to them? Safety is a huge concern. ATA is a huge concern. So these are all priorities for me, and how we can implement those.
Unknown 22:33
Okay, and we'll stick with you, Jessica. You kind of touched on the whole band thing. So, what are your plans to support the fine arts? You know, not just band, but like choir, speech, theater, etc.
Jessica
Yeah, to my knowledge, I mean, it's been a few decades since I've been out of school, but those facilities haven't been upgraded much since I've left. I know that some of the money, like we have a fine arts booster club now, which is great, but there are things that we have to start planning for long term for them-an actual facility with lights and microphones that work on a consistent basis. I think a big concern that was brought up in a recent meeting is ADA accessibility into our event center when we're looking at hosting even just elementary programs in there, and not having the capability to get parents and grandparents in there to see their their kids, like that's that's a problem, and that goes for any of these, whether it's band, choir, any of our theater groups or musicals. So that is of importance to me. So how can we, how can we mitigate the the ADA issues short term, and then long term, what is our planning to grow those facilities and give our kids in those fine arts programs what they they really need to perform and be successful? I think that's a larger conversation that deserves some more thought put into it, but what can we do? I do believe truly that fine arts have the same level of support and consideration as our academics, academics and athletics. You know, some of some of my core memories come from band trips I went on in high school. So it's just as important as anything else in the school.
Unknown 24:24
Bronson.
Bronson
Yeah. So as far as facilities, it's like absolutely we. I mean, need to do what we can to provide them a safe environment. If that means we do have to get some upgrades for the ADA and stuff. Then, by all means, I obviously it's very important. I mean, what I want to help off the fine arts as much as possible. I mean, if that means actual funding, then we need to help them with fundraisers. I know there is boosters, anything that way. I mean, I'm more than than willing to try to help them with, you know, I will make it simple. I do think it's very important to keep kids engaged. I think all humans are different, so I do think sometimes there's a feeling that that's left out to people because everybody likes football or something in America, and it's like I think football is pretty important too. I think fine arts is important. I think band's important. I think it's whatever keeps that kid engaged in school because not everybody's like me, and not everybody's like them. And I think all those, obviously, their education in the classroom is by far the most important. But by all means, yes, we need to give the keep them involved. And from what I know, it sounds like we have had a very good fine arts program as far as the on the plays and stuff are pretty neat deal and I've got extended family members that are very involved in that and so absolutely but I do want to stress that I don't I don't I guess maybe I just don't like that we're like it is being picked out because no, I want to. That's it's fine. Let's put it on an even playing field, but let's not. We don't have to exclude somebody else because of it. Like, it doesn't have to be a competition. Like, all of it.
Unknown 26:12
Okay, Pam.
Pam
Oh, I. We have such a good fine arts program here, and just plays that they put on at the concerts, and you know our family's been blessed to be able to you know music and different you know vocal, and I concur just with so short term. What are some short term things we can do in long term? And and I talked to some of my friends who are on the the fine arts boosters, and you know immediately you know sound and lighting that's one of those technology things that just changes and changes, and so just to even you know we want to we want to keep up but keep moving it forward. The ADA compliance, yeah, being able to have access to get family members in to watch them perform, I was looking again. It's like you know, so you have challenges, and then what's what's I always say. If you have a concern or a challenge, what is the answer? You know, or at least what's the start of the conversation to answer that? And I was looking at some grants, and there's some STEM grants, but so you know, science, technology, engineering, and math. But they've added now STEAM, which arts, in that conversation too. In the state of Iowa, there's a $50,000 grant that they'll they'll match two to one local to go towards something, you know the something within the arts, or again the STEM STEM program. You know we have our industrial tech area and our art room, and things like how could we get some people together and have conversations? Like how can we innovate to maybe make some of these flex spaces? You know, kids who use them on the daily, the teachers who who use them. You know, get the you know. So with the engineering and mathematics, start you know measuring things. These would be things that we could do with again without those big bond issues. You know, what can we do today or tomorrow, and and involving the kids and getting them thinking, community minded, and and how can we make things better for ourselves here locally? So, yeah, I there are definitely things that we could just do right now, and and again that sound and lighting and make it accessible, but also just kind of be a little bit and you know let our kids be dreamers and and get them thinking about hey how can we make our spaces really awesome? And this is stuff that we can do. And so, grant writing-you know-start start thinking about how you can make your everyday space awesome, and yeah, get kids to get to work being dreamers.
Unknown 28:59
Okay, Aubrey.
Aubrey
Thank you. I think everybody agrees that fine art education benefits children with their social relationship, team building skills, self confidence, and it allows students to self express themselves. I think at minimum, the school board needs to ensure baseline funding is provided for fine arts materials. I think that is the absolute minimum that the school board should do. My daughter was in band choir through her four years of high school. I think as a school board member, I think showing up to activities, you said writing grants. I think advocating for the equal pay for those educators in the fine arts, making sure that fine arts education instruction is fought for just as much as the other education programs. When I was at Simpson, we had to take in our base classes. I had to take a theater class. Was one of my favorite classes that I had to take. I don't think it would hurt every Pleasantville student to have to take choir or theater or something along that line, because I really think it opens your eyes and Makes you appreciate, you know, and talking about in a high school role.
Unknown 30:54
So okay, and we'll stick with Aubrey. Budget discussions for the next fiscal year are going to be starting soon. Are there any areas in the budget that you feel could or should take reductions if necessary, and what would be those expenses you would protect?
Aubrey
Oh, I think budget discussions are so scary right now. I think you would have to look at your open positions right now and see if that is something that would need to be cut. And I'm gonna I'm gonna give an example. Miss Cooks here, she's going to be done as the FFA, the co-advisor. You know, is that a position that you would fill with the with the decline in student enrollment, you know, would that position need to be filled? I think everything needs to try and be protected. I just think with the unknowns right now, with what the state budget, I think that that's something that people forget is you have so many different sections of a school budget. You have the food, and then you have the transportation, and then you have the grounds, and then you have the instruction budget. That one budget may be flourishing, where another budget may not be flourishing. So it looks like the school's spending a lot of money here, but they don't have a lot of money here, and so with gas prices and everything going up, I think I think salaries need to be protected. I think I just think the budget right now is a lot of unknown right now, you have the governor's race that could change a lot of things. Like I said, with being a state employee, that's we have a lot of unknown right now. Our budget's bad, so
Unknown 32:56
Jessica, what are your thoughts on that?
Jessica
Yeah, you know I think the when we talk about reduction, I think what you what I've learned at work is what what needs to be protected. What do we need to save? So really taking an area, taking a look at the areas that directly impact students, and make sure those are priority to keep. You know that's quality teachers, that's salaries, that's classroom instruction. Those are the things that we want to ensure aren't harmed by this. To Aubrey's point, there are buckets of money, and and which one is the one that's taking the biggest hit? And so, when you're looking at what needs to be reduced, you know, taking a close exam of our processes, our vendor contracts, technology utilization, what can we do? Aubrey brings up gas prices. Do we need to potentially look at four-day school weeks? Am I recommending that? Not necessarily, but these are all conversations that come up when you're looking at what can we. When we're looking at the buckets of money that are being reduced, these are the conversations that come up, and so really, it's understanding the budget, it's understanding those buckets of money, and really, what I would protect is our our students and making sure that our students and staff are not affected by that as much as we
Unknown 34:27
can. Okay, Pam.
Pam
Yeah, so you know we graduated. I don't know what the exact numbers are. We graduated more than came in, and so with that, the challenge I think lies in we need to bring more students in than are going out, and you know one of the conversations specifically could be you know on the front end the littles you know do in preschool how do we bring you know bring students into the community as far as reductions are concerned you know. It's again, it's kind of a year to year, and as I'm looking at some of the the finance things, you know, it's based off of October 1st to January 15th enrollment headcounts. There's budget guarantees. There's spending authority. So there's a lot of things that go into, and this also is-I think I've learned the tip of the iceberg attending these meetings. There are so many things that go in from the day to day to day. So what I do know is every other school in the state that is our size and bigger is up against the same thing. And I think back to the you know creating the fertile soil. So bolstering what we can bolster, making really savvy decisions, and then sometimes it's just grassroots stuff. You know, you have people. You know, you go to that content expert, the you know a guy who an electrician, for example, like Michael. You know, pick his brain a little bit, just getting you know conversations going like what is something really creative that we can do to not only sustain but thrive you know in this setting because the setting is what it is and I don't know I'm not a retreater so I think we're we're and I'm and I'm and I'm an optimist also so I think we're going to be okay. We've got cooler heads prevail. Big fan of contagious calm. Just make really good decisions, you know. And if it's a decision one month at a time to keep us moving forward, then hey, I'm I'm game for that. But I don't know. It I don't think it's dire. Yes, we are. There are legislative changes. There are budget, state budget things, but also, you know, I think also small towns tend to kind of thrive in in some of these cuts. You know, like Iowa City, boy, they're having a really hard time right now, and those larger schools kind of feel that stuff. So they're having to make those cuts in staff, and I, you know, I think we just we do our darndest to protect every single teacher and associate and support staff. Yeah. So again, more of an optimist. I don't know if I answer the question, but that's where my mind goes. Is you know, kind of take it. How do you eat an elephant one bite at a time. So, Bronson.
Bronson
Yeah. So I mean, once again, obviously, you know, thinking start at the classroom. So definitely want to protect the teachers' pay for sure. I mean, that's we got to have the best teachers we can get. No question about it. We got to keep the best teachers when we have them. There is a balance, I think, as far as you know. What back to like having school pride in the grounds and stuff, and what you see does matter. We like we do somewhat compete for students. That is what brings money into the school, and some of them shiny things maybe are what draws people in when they're looking at a place to live. So we certainly can't claim that that stuff doesn't matter, and and that's where I'm even saying not to veer off the budget too far. But you know, some of the simpler things that don't cost as much money, I'd like to see get a little more organized. Like I say, like get that grass cut, keep things looking nice, stuff that really isn't you know that big a deal, but just but anyway, to get back to the budget, I have seen. I remember even being at a meeting and hearing that just by sharing our bus maintenance with Knoxville, or more so, they're basically in charge of it. I believe mr. Burkhardt, I kind of know him even, and it was a really big number. I know that that was saving us by just actually being with them, and I've read other things that maybe looking into more of those co-ops. We've obviously done it with certain teachers and programs too, with different schools and stuff, and I think maybe things like that are going to be a necessity moving forward to keep exploring options like that. I mean, it's just like back to a farmer or something. It's like, hey, if you can get if we if a neighbor and you can buy one piece of equipment that's $200,000 instead of both of you, then by all means that's great. But if you both have to have it all the same days, then it's not going to work. So just exploring maybe those types of things, but anyway, that's it. Okay.
Unknown 39:28
And so it's good to see four people running for one open school board seat because that's more competitive than I've seen some regular school board elections in the past. But at this point, how likely are each one of you to to run in the regular school board election next year, we'll start with we'll go back to Pam.
Pam
Yeah, I so you know it's just I am I'm kind of like the the one month at a time in terms of like if I were to be elected, you know I want to do a really really good job. I want to learn and absorb everything that I possibly can, and and it's it's just one of those things. If I feel like I can support our community, do a great job, you know, be a good listener, you know, those are things where yeah, of course, I I would be you know willing to to run again, I at this you know I I'm kind of being short-sighted on purpose, but it's definitely in the realm of possibilities. But yeah, I just you know next next one next guy in, and you know just want to do a good job short term and see what happens.
Unknown 40:42
Bree,
Aubrey
I think I would most definitely run again.
Unknown 40:52
Okay, Bronson.
Bronson
Yeah, I would say highly likely. I mean, I don't think I'm going to change my mind within a year that I just feel like it's just the right time to try to to try to help in any way I can, and also I mean there is three seats going to be open I believe next year, including this one. So anyhow, I mean yeah, I mean we need we obviously need good positive-minded people to keep keep volunteering their time to do it. So, yeah, highly likely.
Unknown 41:25
Okay, Jessica.
Jessica
Yes. No, I I agree. This is a short-term role. I know it's only what 12-13, months. But like Bronson alluded to, it it's a role that is then up, and so even after that, I do anticipate in running again. It's important to continue to serve in the community, and this is this is high priority for that.
Unknown 41:51
Okay, and the last question I gave you guys ahead of time was, why should the voters choose you over one of your opponents? But that kind of ties into the whole closing statement I wanted to let everybody give. So, is there anybody who would like to go first at answering that about why people should choose you and and your closing argument?
Unknown 42:10
You have to be humble.
Unknown 42:20
Oh, he's got his paper out by. I was I
Bronson
was skimming it over. We tied these questions together. All right, I'll do it. First, hey, first of all, I think I appreciate anybody willing to give all of them willing to give their time, and obviously, I do think in Pleasantville it's important that we-I mean, obviously-do work together, and that's not to be cheesy. I mean, seriously, we all somehow are all intertwined. I mean, one way or another, if we get like that's kind of has happened a little bit, and it's like we got to stay on the same page, do what's best for the most people, because everybody's got a connection one way or another, friend groups, family, whatever. So I appreciate anybody that I think everybody's got the right intentions, no question in my mind. So, not to bore everybody, but same thing. I would actually, I will dispute actually a way that, as far as not having kids, I think that that's very insightful to have a kid in the classroom, and you know I'm not saying every single person on the board needs to have that, but I think when I look at the board, it's good to have somebody that does. And there's a lot of insight you get from talking to your kids. A lot of things I would never have any ideas going on, good and bad. I do have, I I have a sister that's a counselor in a school and a brother-in-law that's a teacher and a coach, and I have these discussions with them about some of the challenges that I'm not in tune to at all with that they face. My sister is actually a counselor in a larger school. Some of that's budget. Some of it's just what you know, what to, how to handle situations and stuff. And there's a lot of, I mean, a lot of things come back to it. Does start with the parents, but there's nothing we can do about that. Try not to get too off in the weeds. I'm supposed to be saying why you should pick me. So anyhow, but yeah, like once again, I mean, Pleasantville to the bone. Nobody's gonna have to be any more passionate about it. No way. And if I say I'll do it, I'm I'm gonna be committed to it. Honestly, I mean, I have a ton of things going on, but I like as I keep saying, I think it's important for people with that passion and to make the commitment and do it, and you know, and I hope other people continue to still be willing to do that. I know it takes a ton of time. I appreciate the people that are already doing it. You want me to do the closing? We're going to be done with this. Sure. All right. So yeah, I mean, with that said, I mean, if that means when I watch the school board meetings, it does look really tough because it just looks like it takes so much time, no matter what, just to keep things going as usual. And you know, I mean, if that means asking more questions and we got to stay there till midnight. It's like as terrible as it sounds. I'm willing to do it. I guess what I'm saying. I mean, and so just that I I will maintain an open mind. I want to listen to all the facts. Be sure to make the best decisions for the kids. At the end of the day, is what I think the number one Priority is, and I just I'm ready for the opportunity to do it. And thank you all for being involved enough to be here.
Unknown 45:51
Okay, anybody who would like to go next.
Aubrey
So. I I I want to give the Pleasantville community, children, the staff, the best that I can give them without the burden on the taxpayers. I think that's something, you know, hasn't been talked a lot about. But we need to be responsible. We need to be. We need to think about where that funding comes from with every decision. Another thing I don't think we've talked a whole lot about Pleasantville. Outside of town, we have a FFA farm that is a very unique thing, and those kids are learning and doing amazing things out there. So we have a lot of amazing things within the school that we showcase, and we have so much support. And I think we need to utilize maybe a little bit more outside support, but I think we just a little bit more financial responsibility.
Unknown 47:26
So that that's that's why people should vote for you. I
Unknown 47:30
do. I yeah. I feel like I bring that to the table. I with the budget experience I have with the township. With that, I I think that that yes.
Unknown 47:43
Okay, Jess, sure.
Jessica
I can go. Sure. Yeah. I would just like to start with I do have respect for all three candidates up here. The willingness to volunteer their time to the community just shows how deeply we all care about the town of Pleasantville, our our staff, our students. I think we all are deep rooted here. We all give back to the community. You'll probably see me around at every event, regardless of if I'm a school board member or not. But specifically, what is different for me, or or what I have to bring to the table is, I guess, my experience in project management, leading those complex projects, managing competing priorities, working with budgets, and helping organizations make strategic decisions. These are all very important skills that I've learned over the last decade that I think are important to a school board as well. So I want the success of the school, of the staff, of the students. How can we do that both fiscally responsibly and to the betterment of our kids? You know, providing what they need to continue life after Pleasantville, whether that's staying here or moving on, I truly, truly believe that their success is our success, and so I think my experience is what's prepared me to contribute to this role significantly.
Unknown 49:17
Last but not least,
Pam
yeah, you know I think I have perspective. We had three of our kids go through and just had the best experience here in Pleasantville schools. I'm married to a wonderful phys ed elementary phys ed teacher. My family is full of teachers and a background from we all can't be swine farmers, but we grew up on a dairy farm, and so just the commitment of you have to do the work, and it doesn't matter if it's storming, snowy, the electricity goes out, you wait till it comes back on, and you get back to work. So you know, just the work ethic to to do it. I want to have a strong home for my kids to come back to, and if they ever do, you know we're expecting our first grandchild here in seven weeks, but no one's counting. You know I'm really excited for that. Our daughter is a first year teacher at Knoxville, and she was going to be a teacher since she was two years old. We're just convinced of it. You know, I just I am small town Iowa through and through and through. Most people have one hometown. I have two. You know, I came from an awesome town in eastern Iowa where all of my family still lives. They all live about five miles from the home farm, and then I was able to move here. And then my husband's family-fun fact: How many great-grandfathers founded the town? Like a lot. So I mean, the the family's been in in around for a while. So again, just very deep roots on on both sides. This is a wonderful community, and it's awesome that you know four people want to step in and do the work. And sometimes it's just acting, you know, just just act, just do something. And so I also have I have time. All of our, you know, we're empty nesters, so our kids are out living their lives and hopefully being contributing to society in a positive way. And and I've got time. I like I said, perspective. I I think that's a perk as well. So okay.
Unknown 51:41
Well, thank you all for taking the time and for running, and thank you guys for coming. And remember to vote. Thank you.
Unknown 51:52
Thank you, Steve. Yeah.
This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai
I think I would most definitely run again.
Unknown 40:52
Okay, Bronson.
Bronson
Yeah, I would say highly likely. I mean, I don't think I'm going to change my mind within a year that I just feel like it's just the right time to try to to try to help in any way I can, and also I mean there is three seats going to be open I believe next year, including this one. So anyhow, I mean yeah, I mean we need we obviously need good positive-minded people to keep keep volunteering their time to do it. So, yeah, highly likely.
Unknown 41:25
Okay, Jessica.
Jessica
Yes. No, I I agree. This is a short-term role. I know it's only what 12-13, months. But like Bronson alluded to, it it's a role that is then up, and so even after that, I do anticipate in running again. It's important to continue to serve in the community, and this is this is high priority for that.
Unknown 41:51
Okay, and the last question I gave you guys ahead of time was, why should the voters choose you over one of your opponents? But that kind of ties into the whole closing statement I wanted to let everybody give. So, is there anybody who would like to go first at answering that about why people should choose you and and your closing argument?
Unknown 42:10
You have to be humble.
Unknown 42:20
Oh, he's got his paper out by. I was I
Bronson
was skimming it over. We tied these questions together. All right, I'll do it. First, hey, first of all, I think I appreciate anybody willing to give all of them willing to give their time, and obviously, I do think in Pleasantville it's important that we-I mean, obviously-do work together, and that's not to be cheesy. I mean, seriously, we all somehow are all intertwined. I mean, one way or another, if we get like that's kind of has happened a little bit, and it's like we got to stay on the same page, do what's best for the most people, because everybody's got a connection one way or another, friend groups, family, whatever. So I appreciate anybody that I think everybody's got the right intentions, no question in my mind. So, not to bore everybody, but same thing. I would actually, I will dispute actually a way that, as far as not having kids, I think that that's very insightful to have a kid in the classroom, and you know I'm not saying every single person on the board needs to have that, but I think when I look at the board, it's good to have somebody that does. And there's a lot of insight you get from talking to your kids. A lot of things I would never have any ideas going on, good and bad. I do have, I I have a sister that's a counselor in a school and a brother-in-law that's a teacher and a coach, and I have these discussions with them about some of the challenges that I'm not in tune to at all with that they face. My sister is actually a counselor in a larger school. Some of that's budget. Some of it's just what you know, what to, how to handle situations and stuff. And there's a lot of, I mean, a lot of things come back to it. Does start with the parents, but there's nothing we can do about that. Try not to get too off in the weeds. I'm supposed to be saying why you should pick me. So anyhow, but yeah, like once again, I mean, Pleasantville to the bone. Nobody's gonna have to be any more passionate about it. No way. And if I say I'll do it, I'm I'm gonna be committed to it. Honestly, I mean, I have a ton of things going on, but I like as I keep saying, I think it's important for people with that passion and to make the commitment and do it, and you know, and I hope other people continue to still be willing to do that. I know it takes a ton of time. I appreciate the people that are already doing it. You want me to do the closing? We're going to be done with this. Sure. All right. So yeah, I mean, with that said, I mean, if that means when I watch the school board meetings, it does look really tough because it just looks like it takes so much time, no matter what, just to keep things going as usual. And you know, I mean, if that means asking more questions and we got to stay there till midnight. It's like as terrible as it sounds. I'm willing to do it. I guess what I'm saying. I mean, and so just that I I will maintain an open mind. I want to listen to all the facts. Be sure to make the best decisions for the kids. At the end of the day, is what I think the number one Priority is, and I just I'm ready for the opportunity to do it. And thank you all for being involved enough to be here.
Unknown 45:51
Okay, anybody who would like to go next.
Aubrey
So. I I I want to give the Pleasantville community, children, the staff, the best that I can give them without the burden on the taxpayers. I think that's something, you know, hasn't been talked a lot about. But we need to be responsible. We need to be. We need to think about where that funding comes from with every decision. Another thing I don't think we've talked a whole lot about Pleasantville. Outside of town, we have a FFA farm that is a very unique thing, and those kids are learning and doing amazing things out there. So we have a lot of amazing things within the school that we showcase, and we have so much support. And I think we need to utilize maybe a little bit more outside support, but I think we just a little bit more financial responsibility.
Unknown 47:26
So that that's that's why people should vote for you. I
Unknown 47:30
do. I yeah. I feel like I bring that to the table. I with the budget experience I have with the township. With that, I I think that that yes.
Unknown 47:43
Okay, Jess, sure.
Jessica
I can go. Sure. Yeah. I would just like to start with I do have respect for all three candidates up here. The willingness to volunteer their time to the community just shows how deeply we all care about the town of Pleasantville, our our staff, our students. I think we all are deep rooted here. We all give back to the community. You'll probably see me around at every event, regardless of if I'm a school board member or not. But specifically, what is different for me, or or what I have to bring to the table is, I guess, my experience in project management, leading those complex projects, managing competing priorities, working with budgets, and helping organizations make strategic decisions. These are all very important skills that I've learned over the last decade that I think are important to a school board as well. So I want the success of the school, of the staff, of the students. How can we do that both fiscally responsibly and to the betterment of our kids? You know, providing what they need to continue life after Pleasantville, whether that's staying here or moving on, I truly, truly believe that their success is our success, and so I think my experience is what's prepared me to contribute to this role significantly.
Unknown 49:17
Last but not least,
Pam
yeah, you know I think I have perspective. We had three of our kids go through and just had the best experience here in Pleasantville schools. I'm married to a wonderful phys ed elementary phys ed teacher. My family is full of teachers and a background from we all can't be swine farmers, but we grew up on a dairy farm, and so just the commitment of you have to do the work, and it doesn't matter if it's storming, snowy, the electricity goes out, you wait till it comes back on, and you get back to work. So you know, just the work ethic to to do it. I want to have a strong home for my kids to come back to, and if they ever do, you know we're expecting our first grandchild here in seven weeks, but no one's counting. You know I'm really excited for that. Our daughter is a first year teacher at Knoxville, and she was going to be a teacher since she was two years old. We're just convinced of it. You know, I just I am small town Iowa through and through and through. Most people have one hometown. I have two. You know, I came from an awesome town in eastern Iowa where all of my family still lives. They all live about five miles from the home farm, and then I was able to move here. And then my husband's family-fun fact: How many great-grandfathers founded the town? Like a lot. So I mean, the the family's been in in around for a while. So again, just very deep roots on on both sides. This is a wonderful community, and it's awesome that you know four people want to step in and do the work. And sometimes it's just acting, you know, just just act, just do something. And so I also have I have time. All of our, you know, we're empty nesters, so our kids are out living their lives and hopefully being contributing to society in a positive way. And and I've got time. I like I said, perspective. I I think that's a perk as well. So okay.
Unknown 51:41
Well, thank you all for taking the time and for running, and thank you guys for coming. And remember to vote. Thank you.
Unknown 51:52
Thank you, Steve. Yeah.
This transcript was generated by https://otter.ai
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